A LEADING philosopher says it is “unconscionable” that Scotland has been dragged out of the EU by an England which only sees it as a “useful appendage”.

Professor AC Grayling, who was one of 200 high-profile names who signed a “love-bomb” letter in 2014 urging Scots to vote for the Union, said it meant he has now completely changed his mind on independence.

Speaking in an event last week organised by campaign group Pro Europa, the academic said that his reasons for wanting to keep the UK together had revolved around having grandparents from England, Scotland and Wales.

But he said: “I have now come to the view that it is unconscionable that Scotland, which voted to be in the EU, should be dragged out by England which pays so little attention, has so little interest and care really for Scotland, other than as a useful appendage.”

Grayling, who is campaigning to reverse Brexit, said he was now a Yes supporter and if an independent Scotland rejoined the EU, it would be a “big shock” which would change the mood in England.

“The ideal future is that the nations of the British Isles – the Scots, the English, the Welsh, the Irish, all of them as members of the EU, we have no borders, we have no problems,” he added.

He said he believes it is inevitable that the UK – or its “current constituent nations when they are no longer part of the UK” – will be back in the EU.

“If we did nothing whatever, we would be back in the EU in due time, probably if we did nothing sometime in the 2040s,” he said.

“But it seems to me to be important that we get back very much sooner than that, so we minimise the degree of divergence that there is between the UK and our EU fellows.”

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Grayling is calling for opposition parties to now form an alliance for the next Westminster election on a platform of seeking electoral reform.

He said this would mean the current first-past-the-post system could be replaced, leading to a more balanced parliament which could put the question of being in the EU back to a vote again.

This was likely to be a more realistic option than the idea of federalism suggested by former prime minister Gordon Brown, he argued, which would be heavily resisted by English Tories.

“A federal Britain would be one in which a very definite, explicit set of constitutional arrangements existed in which something like Brexit would not have been able to happen if Northern Ireland and Scotland voted against it,” he said.

“It is that kind of thing Gordon Brown has in mind.

“It is extremely unlikely to happen … because the English Conservatives are going to be extremely reluctant to give up their grip on power.

“It is too easy for them to get power under the current arrangements, they can run everything, they can deny Scotland and Northern Ireland and Wales a bigger voice and more independence.”

The “love-bomb” open letter was organised by TV historian Dan Snow and signed by 200 individuals from the worlds of sport, film, television and literature including Mick Jagger, Judi Dench and David Attenborough.

Published the month before the 2014 referendum it said: “We want to let you know how much we value our bonds of citizenship with you and to express our hope that you will vote to renew them. What unites us is much greater than what divides us. Let’s stay together.”